Tonight I'm Drowning
by tt22123
Summary: Draco and Harry end up rooming with each other in their eighth year. Most people decorate their rooms to make it feel that little bit more like home, especially after what had happened there in the last 7 years, but harry only has one picture. Who is that baby in the picture? I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters within.
1. Chapter 1

Every night Harry looked down at the same picture with longing, every night Draco longed to know who was in the photo that evoked such strong emotion. When they returned to Hogwarts after the war there were few who returned for their eighth year so they would all be in one tower together. The morning they were on the Hogwarts express, the saviour of the Wizarding World approached the only returning Slytherin and asked if they could room together. All remaining students would be paired together in the tower and the boys agreed that if they shared it would allow the school to see a united front, no matter what house you were from.

That was how Draco ended up watching the Boy-Who-Lived gaze at the same muggle photograph night after night, wishing he knew what could upset the young man so much. He would try to build up the courage to ask his new friend each and every night but each and every time he failed to do so.

Until one night.

Harry spoke to the piece of paper as though that would carry his words to the person. It wasn't the first time that he shed a few tears but it was the first time that he broke down completely and began giving loud, heart-breaking sobs, releasing them into the room as he sat in there alone.

Walking up the spiral staircase of the tower Draco heard the sobs and followed the sounds until he realised that they were coming from his own room which meant that it could only be Harry there. He contemplated going back downstairs and leaving the boy alone in his moment of weakness however when he listened and heard the words that were almost forced out between sobs.

"Missing you comes in waves. Tonight I'm drowning." Draco felt his curiousity spike as he contemplated who Harry was referring to; his parents, godfather, Dumbledore, however he ruled out each person as he thought of them. The next words he heard broke him out of his thoughts and he instantly walked through the door and pulled the shaking boy into his arms, "I'll join you in the afterlife soon." With his arms wrapped tightly around Harry, Draco could feel tears welling up in his own eyes but he refused to let them fall, trying to remain strong while the person in his grasp was not.

Feeling Draco wrap his arms around him Harry curled into Draco's robes, moving himself closer into the warm embrace. Eventually Harry managed to calm himself down and stopped crying, before turning in Draco's embrace so that he could look at the blonde's face. "How much did you hear me say Dray?" Harry asked tiredly, his breakdown having taken a lot out of him.

"Enough," he whispered back, locking his eyes with Harry's, "and I won't let you. I lost my family and all my other friends, I can't lose you too, you're the only person I have in my life anymore."

"I'm sorry Dray."

"Don't be, just please don't leave me too." The few tears finally began to roll down Draco's pale cheeks as he said these words, each one being wiped away by the boy who had ended up in his lap. "Who is it that you miss so much, if you don't mind me asking?"

Rather than trusting his words, Harry silently handed the photograph to Draco and finally let him see the baby whose image was contained on the page. Draco looked at the image and felt that he still did not know the answer to his question. "Is it you?" Harry shook his head. "Is it my cousin, Teddy?" Another shake. "Who is it then?"

"My son." Draco felt shocked to his core at these two words but did not show it, he was a Malfoy after all, the last of the Malfoy's, and he had an image to maintain.

"I'm sure Professor McGonagall would have let you bring him with you for the year, after all you did save the school and the entire Wizarding World."

"You don't understand. He's dead Dray. I lost him and I'm never getting him back. He was killed in front of me and there was absolutely nothing that I could do to save him. This is all I have left of him, other than my memories."

"He looks happy. How old was he?"

"He was, he was the only good thing in my life. It used to surprise me how someone who was made in such horrid circumstances could then be so joyful but I suppose he didn't know what happened. But how could he? That photo was taken on his first birthday, he was five years and eleven months old when he died though. Too young."

"What do you mean?"

"You know wizards can give birth?" Draco nodded his head so Harry continued to speak. "I didn't know that. I was eleven when I had him, a muggle forced himself on me when I was only ten, turns out that the other difference between births in the wizarding world is that as long as the male has done some magic- even accidently- he is able to give birth no matter how old. I had him just before I started at Hogwarts and I had to leave him with my aunt and uncle. I didn't want to, I knew how they had treated me when I was left in their care, but I had no other option lest I lose him. They seemed to treat him better than me though, thought there was some hope I suppose since his other father was non-magical. He might not be a freak like me. The after fifth year I got home and Dumbledore had told my relatives that Sirius had died and while I was away my son had performed some accidental magic, they knew then that there hope for a 'normal' child had been lost. My uncle came to me and my son when we were sat playing and knocked me out, when I came too I was tied up and all I could do was move my head to watch as he pulled my boy into the room, beaten and bloody. I couldn't get free until he plunged the knife into my child's stomach and my magic flared, by then it was too late though."

"I'm so sorry Harry."

"It wasn't your fault though Dray, you didn't kill him."

"What was his name, you never said?"

Harry let out a tiny chuckle under his breath before he replied, "I figured if I, a boy, could give birth there certainly was magic involved and I dared to dream. In the few stories I heard as a child I always loved dragons the most. His name was Draco actually, you were a reminder that my baby was with the same people who abused me as a child, that's why I didn't take your hand in friendship in our first year. Then after he died I had it in for you during our sixth year as you were a reminder of what I had lost. But when you fought for me last year in the battle I knew that I should try to make amends with you, if not for our sake then for his."

"Draco? So the two best looking people in your life had the same name." With these words Draco sent a little wink towards Harry, trying to cheer the boy up- if only slightly. "I'm sorry that I only ever served as a reminder for you but I am glad that you decided to be my friend this year, other than during the battle when you revealed that you weren't really dead, that moment on the train this year has to be one of the best moments of my life." Harry gave Draco a small smile as he said this before promptly placing a small kiss to the corner of Draco's mouth, as soon as he did so he felt his cheeks burn red and he hid his face in Draco's robes so the pale-skinned man could not see his embarrassment.

Draco, however, was having none of this and made Harry look at him once more before giving Harry a kiss exactly as he had just received. This caused both boys to burn even brighter however this time neither of them dared to look away from the other. The two of them looked at one another, not moving anywhere, not saying a word until Harry's snake suddenly moved up his back and onto his shoulder making the two boys jump slightly as they were so enraptured in one another that they did not notice the appearance of the black python.

Harry once more became highly embarrassed at his actions and went to move away from Draco. Draco, on the other hand, was having none of this so he pulled Harry into his side, sitting that way for a while until Harry let out a big yawn. The Slytherin rose from Harry's bed and made to move into his own but stopped when a warm hand grasped his cold ones.

"I know that this is kind of pathetic, and you can say no of course, but can you stay here with me tonight?" Harry asked quietly as he looked down at his hands that he was wringing in his lap in nervousness.

"Of course." Both boys got into their pyjamas and after Draco used their bathroom Harry went in, while he was in there Draco took this time to widen the bed slightly so that it would fit the two of them and then led down under the covers and waited for the bed's owner to return and settle in next to him. Harry suppressed (unsuccessfully) a small grin when he saw Draco waiting for him, he was half expecting the boy to have been lying when he agreed to stay there.

Harry led down cautiously, worried he would make things weird if he led any other way but soon found these qualms being squashed as Draco pulled Harry over so he was led on his side next to Draco. Curling his body slightly Harry got comfortable with his head resting over Draco's heart, listening to the steady heart beat, as soon as he settled there he felt arms wrap around him once more and a hand wound itself into his hair and began lightly running fingers through the raven locks.

Soon Harry found himself drifting off into a deep slumber but not before he whispered to Draco, "with you here I'm staying afloat, nigh' night Dray, sweet dreams," and placed a gentle kiss to the boys clothed chest.

"And I hope that you stay that way. Goodnight Harry, pleasant dreams to you too." Placing a chaste kiss to the crown of Harry's head the two boys quickly drifted off with tiny smiles gracing their lips.


	2. Chapter 2

Years had passed and every night Harry would say good night in the same way, by telling Draco that with the blonde-haired man's presence he was able to stay afloat, he still missed his child but he no longer felt the overwhelming grief and desire to end it all.

And so it came to pass that Draco stayed alongside Harry through love as their relationship grew from what started as enemy's, to friends, to lovers. Until one night when Harry broke this pattern. 4 years to the day of him crawling in Draco's bed for the first time Harry did not speak these words to him. The words were like ritual to Draco and no matter how bad a day he was having he would feel much better with the raven-haired boy in his grasp and those six small words whispered into the silence of their room. Draco felt as though he could never be happier than when Harry told him those words each night but he was wrong.

The first time that Harry broke that ritual was the day that Draco found he could be even happier. Laying in bed with the boy-who-lived, the boy he loved, Harry took Draco's hands into his own. He slowly lifted his gaze until their eyes locked and spoke the words that would become the new ritual, "with you here I'm swimming." Draco smiled that one special smile that only Harry ever got to see through his Slytherin and Malfoy masks. "Marry me Draco Lucius Malfoy?" With these words Harry leant over and picked up a small box from next to the bed, rolled back so he was laying above the blonde man and opened the lid of the box to show Draco the ring. A thin silver band with Emerald surrounding a small Ruby, representing the two of them, the Slytherin holding together the Gryffindor.

There was no hesitation as Draco nodded and claimed Harry's lips in a passionate kiss, noticing that Harry was slowly placing the ring on his finger but not breaking the kiss Draco felt overcome with joy, so much so that some began to flow down his cheeks in the small beads of salty water that left their trails down the ivory flesh, carving their path in the marble skin before being wiped away by hands that did not belong to Draco. They pulled away when the need for breath got too strong but almost immediately joined their lips again.

From then until the wedding day Harry told Draco daily that he was swimming. He was alive, and happy, and loved Draco with every bone in his body, and missed his son indefinitely, and that he wouldn't change a single thing. On the morn of that happy day Harry showed Draco the wedding rings that he had made for them, gold and silver intertwined with one another and an inscription on the inside of each, 'With you here I'm staying afloat...' on Harry's while Draco's said '... and I hope you stay that way.' In Draco's eyes they couldn't be more perfect, the metals combining their Hogwarts houses while the writing being the eternal words that began their relationship.

Now, most people may have a long speech written for their vows on their wedding day but not Harry. The boy always in the limelight decided to defy convention once more with his vows on that fated day, that of his son's birthday, deciding against words that would prove to everyone how he felt, rather choosing words that showed Draco how he felt as he was the only person who mattered.

"With you here I'm flying."

Draco had a full set of vows prepared but hearing these words he rethought all he had planned to say and went for a different response, "and I'll make sure you stay that way." Onlookers may not have understood the significance of the words but they meant everything to the men stood there being wed. Both of them could not stop themselves from shedding a few tears as they exchanged the rings and kissed one another to seal the marriage.


	3. Chapter 3

It was on their one year anniversary that Harry gave Draco his news, he was pregnant, he and Draco were going to be fathers. They had a beautiful baby girl which Draco decided that they should name Lily to honour the woman without whom he would not have the man that he loved, by which logic it was decided that she would be named Lily Narcissa Malfoy-Potter, Draco was reluctant to name his daughter after his mother but when Harry pointed out that neither of them would be alive without her Draco conceded to allowing her middle name.

When Lily was about to turn two they got the news that Draco was pregnant, this time with twin boys. Being the last of both of their family lines they had a male heir to continue each of their lines, maintaining the long ancestry so that the names did not get lost in history. Scorpius James Malfoy-Potter and Orion Sirius Potter-Malfoy.

The moment that their first child was born Harry changed his words for what would be the last time until he died, that moment he knew that although he had lost his first child he had a family with the man that he loved and always would do. That night he once again broke his ritual and this time spoke to Draco the words that he would continue to tell him until they had grown old together, "with you here I'm soaring."

Draco knew that these would be the words spoken to him for years to come and he felt overjoyed that he was able to help the man in his arms come so far from the one night in their dorm room when he was hoping for death.

It was a year after Draco died, an escaped Death Eater determined to take their revenge on the couple for their role in the downfall of the Dark Lord struck Draco with the death curse as he moved in front of Harry as a final sacrifice, and Harry continued to say his words every night to the picture of Draco that he kept by the side of their bed. Finally the year became too much for Harry to bear and his heart became weary without Draco by his side, whispering his final words Harry lifted Draco's ebony wand to his temple and cast a silent 'Avada Kedavra'. "Without you here I'm drowning. I'll join you in the afterlife soon."

Harry met with Death as an old friend, being the Master of Death he was instantly granted his final wish and taken to stay by Draco's side for the rest of eternity.


End file.
